K12 Headlines

7/29/2014

Boston's school department has offered no evidence that incidents of bullying or other misbehavior have increased enough to warrant audio and video surveillance of students on school transportation. Yet the school system is equipping its 750 yellow school buses with microphones and cameras. It’s an initiative that unnecessarily infringes on private conversations.

The cost of school-related spending – including pen-and-paper supplies, electronics and other school fees – has increased by 20 percent in just one year, far outpacing wage increases and the rate of inflation, according to Huntington Bank's annual Backpack Index.

A group of lawyers including former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove is traveling around Mississippi trying to get school districts to sign up for lawsuits against the state. The group is seeking payment of the $1.5 billion that the state had underfunded its K12 school formula since fiscal 2010.

Rockwood Summit High School will launch a new center to help students better understand renewable resources and further achieve in math and science. The Monsanto Education Center for Sustainable Solutions, which will be housed on the high school's campus, will allow students to plant crops and see how corn and soybeans become renewable sources for fuel.

The state’s unfunded liability in its two major public pension systems, those that cover government employees as well as public school teachers, is an economic nightmare. It’s been a ticking time bomb for more than a decade. Now it’s about to explode, wreaking havoc on school budgets across the Commonwealth and leaving school districts — and in turn property owners — holding the bill.

Whitmore Lake High School Principal Tom DeKeyser will be the district's next superintendent as of January 1, 2015. Superintendent Kim Hart is retiring from the district in December after a 33-year career in education and seven years in the role.

Tom Siler is the new superintendent of the South Carolina district's 16 schools. His selection as superintendent-elect was announced last week, setting the stage for him to assume oversight of classrooms in mid-2015.

7/28/2014

As a teacher, I am aware of the cuts our districts have experienced. So I was surprised when I received a newsletter from Rep. Eli Evankovich claiming that Gov. Tom Corbett has increased education funding. According to the bar graph in this newsletter, it seems the amount of funding has increased, but this newsletter continues to whitewash the truth.

Discovery Communications plans to invest more than $1 million to produce and air a TV special and host town hall meetings, led by Discovery Education, to support the My Brother’s Keeper initiative. The White House program seeks to improve the expected life outcomes of boys and men of color while simultaneously altering public perception of them through public-private partnerships.

Thousands of elementary school teachers have been asked this summer to hold on to their lesson plans as 37 school districts throughout the state seek to show that they are providing students with required exercise.